I learned recently that my great aunt Shima had a dog at her village house (same site as the recently closed school). Oddly, she had the dog the entire time I was visiting there, but for some reason I didn't realize it (although I may have heard the dog barking); and since I was busy running around to various government offices for my husband Asif's immigration papers, or helping him with his English, when I was not teaching in Shima Khala's school, I didn't take the time to find out whose dog it was.
The dog was by all accounts, a very good dog, and very loyal. Mahboob and Shima Khala evidently used to bathe the dog regularly (give him ghusal as Mahboob jokingly says), and although he was kept outside, he was part of the family. Other family members, as well as visitors like Asif and I, also slept outside in the courtyard on charpoys customarily.
Shima Khala habitually went to bed early and rose early. But the night of my youngest uncle Laulak's wedding in Lahore, Shima Khala stayed up much of the night talking and enjoying the company of her guests--my grandmother Mahmudah, my other great aunt Nazrat, and my great uncle Razi and others who were in town for the wedding.
The next morning, Shima Khala did not get up bright and early as she usually did. The dog seemed to sense something was amiss. With his teeth, he pulled a sheet over the sleeping Shima Khala as if he thought she might be sick or dead. Then the dog took her hand gently in his mouth and shook it lightly. She awoke and asked sleepily "Which of you silly people woke me up, I'm tired!" (or words to that effect). Great aunt Nazrat told her, "It wasn't me; it was the dog!"
The dog eventually passed away, and Shima Khala was sad. She never got another dog.
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